Charles H Ames, pilot for two years on the New York to Cleveland route, and one of the most skillful and likable men in the service is probably dead and no one knows where.“ The newspaper coverage started on Octowhen they reported “Bellefonte is in gloom of her first intimate contact with a tragedy of carrying mail by air at night. How big of news was Pilot Ames disappearance? The Democratic Watchman in October 1925 said they had dedicated 47,000 words of press to Ames disappearance a record never before equaled in the history of Bellefonte. They stayed at the Brockerhoff Hotel or boarded with local families, played on local baseball teams, and flew exhibitions for the townsfolk. Manchester said the aviators were part of the life of the town. Photograph of airmail pilot Charles Ames. Retired newspaper editor Hugh Manchester, at the time of the article, still had the cushion from Ames’ cockpit seat with the airplane’s number, 385, on it. Longtime residents can still point out the gap in the Allegheny mountains that the courtly, well-liked Ames missed by about 200 feet. Finally, Ames’ splintered aircraft and broken body were found near the summit of a mountain a few miles from the Bellefonte field. More than a thousand searchers combed the hills east and west of town for the next nine days. Field clerk Gates anxiously checked nearby emergency strips and then stood on the field, listening for an engine that never came. Ames vanished on October 1 en route to Bellefonte from New Jersey on a night when clouds sagged below the Allegheny peaks. Jackson briefly recounted the disappearance of Pilot Charlie Ames in 1925 and how it put Bellefonte on the nation’s front pages. In 2008, Donald Dale Jackson, wrote a story for Air and Space Magazine about Bellefonte’s Air Mail history. ![]() By Dale Moore, in partnership with Bellefonte Victorian Charm
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |